Issues in focus

In the course of its work the Bioethics Council examines particular bioethics issues. As each issue comes up, information about the issue is published to this website.

The current issue in focus is pre-birth testing.

Previous issues we have investigated include:

• Human embryos for research (HER)
• Xenotransplantation: animal-to-human transplantation
• Human genes in other organisms.

Future issues

The Council is planning to promote discussion about other aspects of biotechnology including nanotechnology (the science of tiny "machines" the size of molecules), and stem cell technology (the use of a special type of human cell to help treat serious diseases).

Organising your own group to discuss issues

The following resources on the web will help you with running a dialogue in your own group:

• The World Cafe: http://www.theworldcafe.com/
• Making Choices Together: The Power of Public Deliberation (PDF 1149 KB)
• Public Conversations Project: Dialogue Guides/ Tool Box